Poor Boy's Game

When i starting watching this movie i expected very little so i didn't have my hopes. I was so wrong!!! This movie is really good. It tackles a lot of issues has a really good storyline and is very touching.

It's the sort of film that you watch and think anything is possible and you really should judge people. If you haven't seen this movie you really should. I'm not going to say it's the best movie in the world but is it worth watching YES!!

The plot is really good and the acting is also really good. From the time the movie started i was hooked. I wanted to know what had happened and how it was going to end. I can't compare it to any other movie because it's like no other movie i've seen. The start has a touch of American History X i guess you could say.

I give this movie 8 out of 10

Worth watching!!

In a racially divided Halifax, former boxer Donnie Rose (Rossif Sutherland) gets paroled after ten years in prison. George (Danny Glover) is the father of his victim who was beaten to brain damage. During the last few years, Donnie had stopped his violence and racial anger. He returns to a hero's welcome and a party with his racist family. Professional boxer Ossie Parris (Flex Alexander) decides to get revenge by challenging him to a boxing match. Despite acrimony from both sides of the racial divide, Donnie and George form an unlikely partnership.

This is a Canadian indie. As a boxing movie, it isn't that much. In the end, this is not really a sports movie. It is more about forgiveness, acceptance, and racial tolerance. Even more interestingly, it delves into the racially divided world of Halifax. There are moments of real power, but the movie is a bit too meandering. Rossif is too passive although I do get the acting choice. The pacing has too many slow spots. As for the ending, I like the starting move, but I didn't like where it goes. There is a lot to like in this.

I haven't had much good to say about films shot in Canada recently, but this is the exception. I hope race relations in Nova Scotia aren't this bad, but the film made me believe each of the characters were real. They all had a depth to them, and as others have mentioned, were all acted very well. It's true that some of this territory has been covered before, but I think it's safe to say nobody saw this particular ending coming quite the way it happened. My last comment is about the boxing scene, which I felt was unique in conveying the impacts of some of the blows. Other recent boxing movies have not had the same effect, for me. I look forward to more films of this calibre.

This was an average sort of movie. It didn't leave any lasting impressions despite an interesting premise and gritty storyline. Poor Boy's Game is a movie built around a boxing match, but its most powerful scenes involve the ongoing human drama. I still found this a bit all over the place, the characters underdeveloped and their motivation vague.

The story is ultimately about forgiveness and redemption following Donnie (Rossif Sutherland) who has just been released from prison after serving 10 a ten year sentence for beating a man so badly he suffered permanent mental disability. Upon his release he goes back to his old crew of familiar (Canadian faces) hard drinking racist A--holes for the most part and then through guilt I suppose agrees to enter into a boxing grudge match that he knows will end either in his loss or death.

The plot gets strange then as Danny Glover agrees to help train Donnie even though he is the man responsible for beating his son. This all culminates into some kind of racial war; churches burn, people are killed in revenge killings and then the big showdown takes place in the ring. The boxing isn't great here either, kinda cheesy as is the ending where both boxers have to work together in the ring.

There is a big Canadian cast attached to this, lots of actors I recognized from assorted TV shows and then Danny Glover. Weird. It has also been filmed and takes place in Halifax but had a feel of one of those movies filmed in Canada but meant to take place in America. 12/1/15

After seeing this film at the Pan African Film Festival, I was struck not just by the importance of its message but the universal appeal of the film as a whole. This is a story that truly crosses racial boundaries. Danny Glover is excellent as usual, but the entire cast is talented, and the lead actor, Rossif Sutherland, is definitely one to watch. The story begins with a vicious attack by an almost unreedemable lead character. His journey through the prison system to the boxing ring forces him to confront his inner demons, and to ask forgiveness from those he has harmed. Definitely worth seeing at a film festival or anywhere you can find it!